Press Grand Prix for DDB SA

19 Jun 2008

CANNES, FRANCE: DDB SA scooped with the Press Grand Prix at the 55th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival last night, Wednesday, 18 June 2008, for its Energizer campaign. Said DDB SA executive creative director Gareth Lessing, who led the Energizer team, “It's just beautiful. Sometimes you have a plan, but every now and again the outcome exceeds your expectation.”

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This is only the third Grand Prix ever to have been awarded to a South Africa agency and the win comes hot on the heels of DDB SA's exemplary performance at the One Show and Clios, where it took home four statues, including SA's only Gold.

DDB SA CEO Glen Lomas enthused, “We're very proud to have joined the ranks of agencies flying the flag for SA advertising. Our agency team has had wonderful support from both DDB Worldwide and The Jupiter Group locally and it is a nice feeling that their faith in us has been rewarded. Gareth is a prodigious talent in the Bernbach mould and more importantly a great leader; he and his teams have earned this award. We (DDB) wanted to create an agency where nice guys can come first; it is that of which I am most proud today.”

The Energizer campaign includes a series of 4 print ads - Paint, Pants, Park and Spit - with the payoff line ‘Never let their toys die' and depicts some of the naughtier antics children resort to when the batteries in their favourite toys die. The campaign was awarded in the Press category.

The Grand Prix comes on top of great market results for Energizer: The brand hit national retail market leadership in April for the first time in its 10-year history, outselling all competitors; proof that DDB SA's philosophy of ‘Better Ideas, Better Results' delivers.

Added Paul Binikos, business development director, “We were aiming for the sky, but we've just bypassed Mars.”

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